He monitored events. He had "no particular reprimands about the actions of police," he said.

"We witnessed no obviously brutal or disrespectful treatment of demonstrators by police," he stressed.

Late Monday, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called sentences given the Bolotnaya Square defendants "disproportionate in light of the nature of the events and the offenses they are accused of."

They could have been charged with plotting insurrection. Ashton didn't explain.